Warm Horizons: The Wager
by Cirrostratus-9
Summary: Snow concocts an idea for a bet which will prove to Hope that he's the one who needs the most physical affection in their relationship. But as the week progresses, Snow begins to wonder if it was such a good idea after all... Rated M for heavy sexual content and occasional coarse language.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey guys - this is the latest (5th) in the 'Warm Horizons' series. Standard disclaimer: they function independently and can be read in any order, but it's recommended to read the original first (if you have some time on your hands). Not much else to say, except this'll be a long one... hold tight!**_

 **xxxxx**

 **xxxxx**

The room was not too cold. It was cold outside, definitely. But the room was not too cold. Despite this, when Snow released breath after shaky breath, he visualised it condensing into clouds of ghostly vapour before dissolving into the air around him. His eyes were closed, so he couldn't verify this. He also imagined steam rising from his body, the sweat ascending from him like an aura. As it was, he could definitely feel it trickling down his neck, working its way down into the contour at the centre of his spine. He knew that if he examined himself, he would find the hairs of his arms and legs to be matted down with damp. He continued to inhale and exhale methodically, feeling his heart rate slowly reduce again to normal levels. He felt powerful. He felt good.

'Looks like someone enjoyed himself,' came Hope's voice from below him. Snow could only break into a smile in response: too drained, too euphoric to form any sentences just yet. Hope giggled. 'I love it when I can make you make that face.'

Snow finally opened his eyes and observed his lover. His gorgeous silver hair was ruffled, his ordinarily pale cheeks were flushed, his arms were splayed randomly at his sides, and his own slender body was also glistening with a dew of sweat. He'd never looked better. He leaned down to give him a generous kiss, which Hope accepted welcomingly. He knew this was Hope's way of telling him he was okay – and this was a relief. During sex, whenever Snow started to get particularly aggressive, whenever he started to _really_ enjoy himself (as he had done today), he always worried that it might be at Hope's expense. Mercifully, however, it seemed Hope appreciated (and perhaps even needed) to be dominated and/or treated roughly every now and again.

'Is there anything I can get for you, babe?' Snow asked gently after lifting his head and looking deeply into Hope's eyes.

'No, I'm okay,' he first responded, and then checked himself. 'Actually, a glass of water might be nice… I, uh… don't think I'm capable of walking to get it myself right now.' He smiled bashfully, but Snow felt guilty anyway.

'I'm sorry!' Snow blurted as he scrambled off the bed and to his feet. 'I'll get some water, you wait there, you wait there…'

'Haha, don't be sorry, you big lug,' Hope replied. 'It was worth it. It felt amazing.'

 **xxxxx**

 **xxxxx**

When Snow returned with a glass of water, he settled on the bed next to his lover and wrapped his arm around him. Together they stared at the ceiling and talked, at tremendous length, about everything they could think of worth talking about. Hope had apparently met up with Yuj again recently, and Snow asked how he was. He never got to see Yuj very often anymore. They should try and arrange a big meet-up again – all the old NORA gang – but it was so hard these days, what with everybody living somewhere different and all being so busy.

When prompted, Snow talked a bit about how his construction work was going – as it happened, he'd been selected personally by the mayor to lead a team to redesign and rebuild Palumpolum's entire 11th sector. It being on the outskirts of the city, it had been one of the last areas on the list to receive official reconstruction. It had chiefly been a residential area, and all of its previous occupiers had been relocated to other parts of the city or provided temporary housing, but the materials and money had finally been made available to get the blocks of residences standing proud again, and looking better than before. Snow had initially been sceptical about his ability to lead such a big team on such a grand project, and had voiced these concerns to the mayor himself – had he only been chosen for his fame from having saved the world two years ago, when there were other better qualified and better experienced people who could have been chosen instead? According to the mayor, these 'better qualified' people would all be working on the project anyway, and half of the challenge of being a good leader was to inspire all of the rest of the team. And when it came to that particular skill, the mayor claimed, he could think of no one better qualified. Feeling honoured, Snow had accepted the job.

Snow asked Hope about his own work at the academy. Since he had been officially inducted onto the board of the Department of Technology, he said, things had been moving at a much faster pace – his 'informal' and 'only-to-satisfy-the-paper-shuffling' apprenticeship had been concluded, and he was finally able to get on with making a real difference. This apparently meant an increase in his workload, however.

'That's actually what I was doing when you got back to the apartment,' Hope explained.

'Oh right, yeah. I remember you sitting at a desk.' Snow recalled the image vaguely.

'That's right. Doing some very important work.'

'I'm sure.'

'That I wasn't supposed to be interrupted from.'

'Mhmm.'

Hope sighed with an annoyance that Snow was convinced was exaggerated. 'I've been meaning to talk to you about this.' Hope also adopted a tone in his voice that Snow had come to be familiar with – it was the 'this is important, ignore me at your own peril' kind of tone that never signalled anything good.

'Oh yes?' he asked, keeping his eyes shut and refusing to look properly at Hope, if only to tease him. He felt Hope shift on the mattress next to him, apparently so as to sit up. He could feel his eyes burning holes into his face.

'Yes. Now obviously, I'm not saying the sex we have isn't great. Because it is. But I have noticed that I've been getting considerably less done since the two of us became an item…'

'Oh really.' Snow still wouldn't open his eyes.

'That's right. It didn't matter so much before, when I didn't really have any official title… but now I've got all this important stuff to do… well. Do you realise we have sex on average ten times a week?'

Snow finally opened his eyes in surprise, and looked at Hope. He cocked his eyebrow in amusement. 'Seriously? You've been keeping count?'

'And that tends to eat up a lot of time,' Hope continued, ignoring him. 'I just feel that with all of these new obligations and stuff, I should probably be a bit more… responsible. A bit more organised.'

'Ah. Perhaps it would help if we timetabled it then,' Snow said facetiously, and reached for a diary by the side of the bed. He flipped through the pages dramatically and shook his head, trying not to break character and crack into a grin as he saw Hope huff and cross his arms in his peripheral vision. 'Oh dear, oh dear, let me see… I can schedule you in for a quickie on Monday 17th, but I've only got fifteen minutes for you I'm afraid. If I pushed back lunch with Gadot next Wednesday I might be able to find ten minutes or so for you to sit on my face…'

'Stop being an idiot,' Hope protested and snatched the book from him. His countenance now seemed slightly more resigned. 'I'm just saying, you know… stuff like tonight, when you came in and had had a stressful day… obviously I care about you. And I want to help you feel good. But… I'm very busy lately, I'm sorry. I'll always have time for you. But there's other stuff I need to get done as well. Does that sound fair?'

Snow almost agreed. He felt guilty, and was fully prepared to concede. He had already opened his mouth to apologise when a thought struck him. 'Wait a minute. Stuff like tonight… when I came home and really wanted sex… that's normally the exception!'

Hope seemed confused by his sudden excitement. 'What do you mean?'

'I'm totally willing to sacrifice a bit of sex so you can get your work done and stuff… but pinning this on me… that's not completely fair! When we have sex… it's usually you who's the one that starts it!'

'What? No I don't.'

'You so do,' Snow continued, grinning happily, maybe more than he should have been doing, because he was certain he was right for a change. 'Of the two of us, you're definitely the horny one.'

'I'm so not. You're the horny one.'

'Oh, I _thought_ I was. I always thought I was. But then I met you. I mean, do you remember that night near the beginning of our relationship where we did it five times in one night? People kept asking me why I was so sore the next day. And who was the one who kept asking for more…?'

'It wasn't like that!' Hope huffed, losing his cool. 'It wasn't that I _needed_ more, it was more like… I could tell that _you_ wanted more. And obviously I wanted you to be happy, so… so I thought I would take one for the team, so to speak.' He rolled his eyes upward in remembrance. 'Or take five for the team.'

'It absolutely was not like that, babe.'

'It absolutely was.'

'Fine.' Snow jumped to his feet and spread his arms wide like a prophet; something he was aware he always did when he had a good idea. 'Let's make a bet.'

'…A bet?'

'You said you needed some time to catch up on your academy work. How about we just… don't have sex? And we see who can last the longest.'

'Whoa, hold on there,' Hope objected. 'I never said we should stop having sex _altogether_ …'

'But this'll settle it. Which one of us needs it the most? If you're right, and I'm the horny one out of the two of us, then you've got nothing to worry about… You'll have time to do some studying, and then I'll cave, and you'll win. It's only if you think you can't last as long without sex as I can that you have anything to worry about…'

'It's not that,' said Hope, who looked like he was trying not to sound evasive but was failing. 'I'm just not sure it would be worth proving, is all. I mean, I can't deny the sex is still _good_. And even if I could last ages without it, I'd probably be pretty frustrated after a few days.'

'Not me,' Snow replied confidently. 'I'd be fine.'

'No you wouldn't, and you know it,' Hope countered. He was probably right there, but he didn't need to let him in on that. Instead, he kept staring at Hope stubbornly, trying to bait him into rising to the challenge.

'Ugh, _fine_ ,' Hope conceded, and rose from the bed. 'If this is what it'll take to prove to you how much of a horny bastard you are. You just have to promise that when you finally give in you're not so aggressive that you break me in half.' He rubbed his side sympathetically as he headed for the door. He paused in the doorframe, and asked: 'So what does the winner get?'

Snow thought for a moment. 'If I cave first, I'll do all the housework for a week,' Snow boasted. 'Nah, make it a _month_.'

'Fine, if you're so confident,' Hope remarked. 'I don't feel like that being the same forfeit for me, though. You know, on the off-chance that I do lose. Which I won't.'

'Ok,' Snow pondered. 'If you lose… you have to…' Ah. He had the perfect idea. 'You have to get rid of that smelly body wash thing that you have. And the fragrance that came with it.' Hope had received an expensive and extremely flowery gift set from an academy colleague during a gift exchange at the end of the last year. Hope claimed to like it, but Snow had found the scent to be somewhat overpowering. It made him sneeze. But Hope always insisted on wearing it at formal occasions, and had even threatened to buy some more when it ran out. 'I'll buy you something different if you want, but you have to promise to never use it again.'

Hope pouted. 'I think it smells very nice. Perhaps you're just not sophisticated enough to appreciate it, Snow… but fine. If I lose – which, again, I won't – I'll get rid of it.' And he walked away without awaiting a response.

Snow watched him carefully as he left for the bathroom. Nah. This was going to be easy.


	2. Chapter 2

Snow awoke the next day feeling gleeful. This was perhaps one of the best ideas he'd ever had.

As he showered, he reflected on the rest of the previous evening. They'd had dinner and watched TV as though nothing had happened, much as they normally would… when it came to bedtime, though, Hope had changed into his pyjamas and gotten straight into bed and curled up without saying anything. This tickled Snow, since unless it was cold and Snow was away, Hope generally slept naked. The warmth of their bodies together was enough to stop either of them from getting chilly. The only reason Hope would ever wear pyjamas while Snow was in the apartment would be because he was cross, or because he wanted to make it clear that sex wasn't going to happen. In last night's case, it was probably both.

Snow chuckled to himself. He remembered how he'd tried not to get horny from the situation. Irritatingly, he had a tendency to find Hope's grumpiness to be a turn on. It made him feel playful, and want to tease him more. Which, true, would sometimes end up leading to sex… but not last night, of course. Snow had the good sense to not even try to provoke a conversation, and instead settled down next to Hope just as silently as Hope had been to him. Pretty soon, he drifted off to sleep, tired from the day's efforts, the two of them facing away from each other.

Today would be a tiring day as well. It was 6:40, and he needed to be at the temporary offices the mayor had authorised for the sector 11 reconstruction project by 8am at the latest. There were some files or something he was supposed to go through with someone, and then the rest of the day would be meeting all of the volunteers who had signed up so far and introducing them to one another. This couldn't be played like any old construction project, the mayor had explained. This was not a private business project, and the buildings wouldn't be owned by any given individual at the end of it. It was pro bono publico, and their approach would have to reflect that.

On leaving the shower, Snow got dressed and scarfed down some cereal hurriedly, but as quietly as he could. Hope didn't have to be at the academy until 9, he was sure, and since he was a sleepy sort, there was no chance of him getting out of bed any earlier than necessary. Snow would be leaving the apartment before Hope even woke up.

The day was indeed tiring. Meeting all of the volunteers took longer than expected, but in a way this was endearing – that so many people were willing to help out was extremely encouraging. There were well over two hundred of them, maybe nearer three hundred, and these were only the ones who were able to show up. According to Addison, one of the project managers, there were a hundred more who had also pledged their time, and the numbers were still growing. When added to the number of licensed construction workers who would be commissioned by the city council, the number of people who could be said to be involved in the endeavour stretched into the thousands. So when he finally climbed onto his velocycle at 5pm, he was resonating with the conviction that this project was genuinely something they had the capacity to achieve. It felt good. But no, there was something more than that – this was the biggest reconstruction project he'd been leading since Cocoon fell. This wasn't just building houses individually for those who were most in need; this was four square miles of metropolis, and would change the entire face of Palumpolum. It would take at least a year, and it was rallying what felt like the entire city's population. Snow was feeling reinvigorated and powerful again almost as much as he had done when he had originally formed NORA, although he was perhaps a little wiser now. He was leading a team to change the world.

His day wasn't over, though. He checked his communicator before he set off, and saw he had a message from Gadot – that was right; he had promised to help him move some more concrete. Groaning a little, he swung his bike around and set off in the opposite direction.

When he did finally get back to his apartment, it was after 9pm. He hadn't eaten since midday, but he needed a rest before he could think of preparing any food. He was mentally fatigued from the reports that morning, socially fatigued from meeting the volunteers that afternoon, and physically fatigued from shifting building materials with Gadot that evening. It had been the kind of day, he reflected, that he would normally be really looking forward to having Hope at the end of.

Upon entering the apartment, he found that Hope was already in the bedroom, in his pyjamas and reading a book. He gave away no indication of recognising Snow's existence as he clumsily removed his boots, stretched and groaned, and collapsed onto the bed, thrusting his arms behind his head.

Almost a minute passed in complete silence before Snow finally spoke up.

'I don't suppose you, uh, happened to completely forget about our arrangement last night?'

'Not a chance,' Hope replied without lifting his eyes from his book.

For the first time in a while, it not normally being in his nature, Snow began to feel sorry for himself.

 **xxxxx**

 **xxxxx**

The next day wasn't much easier. There were more heavy lifting jobs he'd agreed to do with Gadot on the other side of town in the morning, and the afternoon was filled with more tedious paperwork at the mayor's offices. True, this did need to be done before any physical work could begin, and true, it did make sense that Snow should be clued in on everything that was going on, but he still couldn't help but feel that this wasn't where his best talents lay.

There was another reason for his agitation, though. The manual labour with Gadot was one thing, as that kept him fully distracted, but when he was reviewing files and feeling bored, his mind had a tendency to wander. And when it did, it would wander to Hope. Visions of his sexy, slinky body – he'd caught a glimpse of him having a shower just before he left the apartment that morning and he hadn't been able to shake the image from his mind. He'd forgotten his keys, and on his way to the bedroom happened to glance through the bathroom door, which had been left half open… Hope was inside, only semi-visible through the steamy, translucent door of the shower, delicately rubbing suds through his hair, down his gorgeous neck and slender frame, and over his most sensitive regions. After staring for probably longer than he should have done, he forced himself out of his trance, collected his keys and left.

Snow couldn't help but wonder if Hope had left the door open deliberately, as a way to taunt him, or perhaps to seduce him. But if he was trying to get into his head, it had definitely worked. The graceful way he moved his hands over his own body… wow. Snow kept getting random spontaneous erections all afternoon each time he let his mind wander too far in that direction. All he could think was, thank the gods he'd been given a desk that he could hide himself under.

When he was finally allowed to haul himself home, though, he was in for a surprise. He'd known that today was one of Hope's days off from the academy, but he hadn't heard anything from him about what his plans were. So when he opened the apartment door and saw the living room was empty, he merely assumed that Hope had gone out somewhere to meet a friend or just enjoy the unexpected sunshine they'd got that day. He was setting his trench coat on the rack by the door, however, when he heard a noise.

It certainly sounded like Hope. Snow closed the front door silently and listened again: yes, definitely Hope. He'd recognise that moan anywhere. It sounded, well, sexual.

Looking back, Snow felt guilty in acknowledging that his first thought had been that Hope was cheating on him with someone else. He'd dismissed the thought rather quickly even at the time, knowing that Hope just wasn't the kind of soul to do that to someone, but he still felt guilty for so much as considering it. He might now rationalise that it was a projection of his own insecurity of unnecessarily leaving his boyfriend sexually unsatisfied rather than being indicative of a lack of trust in him, which only made him think he was spending too much time with Lebreau (who fancied herself as something of an amateur psychologist). But it didn't matter. Hope wasn't cheating on him. No, what he found when he opened the bedroom door was… _infinitely_ more inviting.

Hope was sprawled on the bed, totally naked, with a shaft of evening sunlight stretching in through the window and draping itself over his form. The reason for his moaning was instantaneously obvious. With one hand he was slowly stroking his erect cock, and with the other he was thrusting some kind of sex toy in and out of himself. He was bucking his hips into the motion, and his mouth was parted in apparent nirvana.

Snow raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, leaning against the doorframe. He let the show continue for a few moments more before clearing his throat amusedly.

'Ahh!' Hope yelped, and threw his hands to cover his erection and the sex toy as best he could. It didn't really work.

'Having fun?' Snow asked.

'Well, I, uh…' Hope looked sheepish for a moment, but quickly switched to defiant. 'I don't have to be embarrassed! I haven't done anything wrong. When the cat's away, as they say…'

'I think this would be breaking the rules,' Snow chided playfully. 'We said no sex, remember.'

'This isn't sex! There's only one of me.'

'But the point was that we'd see how long we could go without sexual gratification,' Snow pointed out. 'I'm pretty sure that includes orgasms of any variety.'

'Was that made explicit?'

'It was implicit.'

'Oh, _fine_ ,' Hope complained. He removed the dildo from himself – in a pretty sexy way, it should be noted – and set it on a towel next to him. He made to stand up, but a thought seemed to strike him and he lay back again seductively, tracing a finger suggestively over his naval. 'Unless, of course, you wanted to come and finish me off… have your way with me… it's up to you.'

'No thank you,' Snow affirmed, ignoring the pronounced bulge in his trousers that would have argued otherwise. Gods, how much he wanted to. But he couldn't let Hope win.

'Hmph,' Hope concluded, and got off the bed to gather his clothes.

'I didn't even know you had a dildo,' Snow commented after a moment.

'Oh, I got it a couple of months ago. You know, for when you're away.' Hope brushed past him and headed for the bathroom. He paused at the door and turned back: 'It's not quite as big as you of course, but then what is?' he added with a wink.

 **xxxxx**

 **xxxxx**

The next day was… difficult. Snow visited the mayor's offices again in the morning, hoping that that day's work would somehow occupy his mind in a way that the previous day's had not, but was disappointed to find that things were actually going very well with the project and they didn't need much of his help. He insisted on staying for as long as he could, but by lunchtime it had become clear he was kicking around the office and not serving any real purpose. After reaffirming for the second time with every project manager that everything was indeed fine and they didn't need his help, perhaps he should take the afternoon off, he had been working so hard lately, etc., etc., he reluctantly left the offices and rode back to the apartment. Hope was at the academy, thank goodness, so he didn't have to worry about whether or not he could trust himself around his boyfriend. He'd gone three days without sex now, which didn't seem like relatively much, but he was definitely beginning to pine for it.

Perhaps Hope had had a point after all. Maybe he was noticing just how frequent and regular their _trysts_ were, and how much he needed them, only now that they had been cut off.

There was something more than that though, Snow thought as he paced aimlessly around the empty apartment looking for something to do. He felt a little like someone had instructed him 'Try not to think about the colour green', or 'Don't you dare think about eating some delicious burritos'. He might not have wanted any burritos before, but being told that they were completely off the menu was making him _want_ burritos for apparently no reason at all.

He stopped pacing and rubbed his stomach. Damn, now he wanted burritos.

'Oh, come on!' he shouted to no one in particular. 'I'm tougher than this. I can do this. It's all just a matter of willpower.'

And so, Snow endeavoured to cleanse his mind. He used some suggestions for meditation that Maqui had written down for him ages ago, that he had tossed aside and otherwise ignored. Maqui had become quite a spiritual kid, and had practically raved about the benefits of concentrated meditation the last time Snow had seen him, but Snow had not found a need for such a practice before now. He had always considered himself to be pretty relaxed, easy-going; it took more than getting caught in a traffic jam or running out of milk when he wanted to have cereal to get under his skin. No; for something to drive him to distraction usually necessitated it be something pretty major that had gone wrong. He thought briefly of Serah, and stifled the image.

In accordance with Maqui's instructions, then, Snow tried to get comfortable on the floor (it didn't take him long to decide that a cushion would also be preferable) and assume what was described as a 'receptive' posture. After doing a couple of breathing exercises, which he had to admit did make him feel a little calmer, he tried concentrating on emptying his mind. Trying to think about nothing at all was harder than he would have guessed. His stream of consciousness felt more like a metaphorical stream than he had ever previously appreciated – like a river he was trying to dam by throwing his hands up against its flow. He might manage a few seconds of silence before thinking again about Hope, or the sector 11 project, or how stupid Maqui was, or the constant buzzing of the refrigerator… he refused to allow himself to become frustrated, though. After sticking at it, he found he was eventually able to manage ten or fifteen seconds of stillness at a time, which felt like an improvement. When he finally glanced at the clock, he saw that he had been sitting on the floor for almost 45 minutes.

This has actually kind of worked, Snow thought to himself. He felt so much more… becalmed. He proceeded to tidy a few things around the apartment that needed tidying in an unhurried, undistracted kind of way, and eventually settled down with a magazine on the couch in the living area.

He was doing so well.

So well, that is, until he noticed something niggling at him in his peripheral vision. Something right in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see what it was, and quickly identified the offending article.

Situated on the couch maybe three feet from where he was sitting was a pair of underwear. A bright green pair, with a white elastic waistband. He hadn't noticed them earlier on account of them being hidden by a misplaced cushion.

Obviously they were Hope's. He recognised the pair. He studied them abstractedly. Why were they here, on the couch? Hope was a fussily tidy person, bordering on fastidious. He was also very private. Leaving underwear so casually strewn about the apartment was not something he would ordinarily do.

It was possible that Hope had been folding some clothes, and somehow missed these when putting them away… but no, these were not folded, and the washing machine did not look like it had been used that day. The only explanation he could think of was that Hope had been wandering about the apartment in only his underwear that morning and eventually, being all by himself, decided that even they were too much of a restriction and discarded them.

Snow felt himself growing hard at the thought. His sexy, sleepy boyfriend, wandering about almost naked… settling down on the couch exactly where Snow was sitting now, deciding that the underwear was an unnecessary extravagance… pushing his thumbs under the waistband, raising his knees into the air and slowly peeling them off…

Snow reached out with one arm to pick the item of clothing up, and turn it over in his hand. With his other hand, he absent-mindedly started playing with his erection through his pants. The green underwear looked small. But then, Hope's underwear always looked small. So tight. Clinging to his little frame in the sexiest way possible.

Snow pulled his cock out of his pants and toyed with it gently. He wondered if Hope had had a hard-on when he'd taken the underwear off that morning. Maybe that was why he'd taken them off. The tightness of the elastic too restrictive. Needing to feel freedom. Maybe Hope had sucked on his fingers as he lay on the couch, and bucked his hips. Maybe he'd inserted those fingers into himself. Maybe he'd whispered Snow's name while he did so.

Snow was unashamedly jerking off now. He used the same hand as he was holding the underwear with, pressing the tiny garment against the proud hardness of his cock. It felt so good. He thought about his boyfriend, naked and horny and helpless.

And that might well have been the end of it; the bet he'd made with Hope could have so easily been lost then and there. That's exactly what would have happened, had Snow not then heard the sound of a key being inserted into and turning in the lock of the front door to the apartment. Oh hell, he thought.

He had time to thrust the green underwear away and out of sight, but not enough time to re-sheathe his throbbing penis. It was all he could do to assume a pose that he prayed didn't look too guilty and smile at Hope as he came through the door.

'Oh good, you're already back,' Hope said without properly looking at him. 'I was wondering…' he froze when he took in the full picture before him.

There was a brief silence while Hope looked warily at his boyfriend, and Snow grinned innocently back.

'Snooow…?' Hope finally asked, assuming the tone of a parent who had caught a child with their hand in the cookie jar.

'Yeah babe?'

'Were you jerking off?'

'Definitely not.'

'Right,' Hope said doubtfully. 'It's just, you're leaking precum onto the carpet.'

Snow looked down. There was indeed a thin, egg white trail leading down from the tip of his cock and towards the floor. He feigned surprise dramatically. 'Oh my!' he cried, and stuffed himself back into his pants. This done, he leaned back again and resumed grinning at Hope.

'…Looks like someone needs to get off more than he realised,' Hope gloated after a moment, setting some groceries down on the kitchen surface.

'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'I could take care of it for you, of course,' Hope continued, ignoring him. 'If you really, _really_ wanted me to. Of course, that would mean forfeiting the bet…'

'Absolutely not,' Snow affirmed, crossing his arms over his chest emphatically.

'If you're _sure_ ,' Hope said teasingly. He walked back across the room towards Snow. He appeared to be fiddling with something small in his hand. 'You'd better look at the toaster, then.'

'What?' Snow asked, confused. He instinctively turned his head to look at the part of the kitchen where the toaster was, and felt a sharp pain in his neck. 'Ow!'

'Sorry,' Hope apologised.

'What was that?' Snow asked, rubbing his neck where it had hurt.

'Just a little something I brought back from the academy. Thought it might help us settle this bet fair and square,' Hope explained casually, applying the same device to his own neck. He winced when the thing – whatever it was – was injected. 'It's a tiny chip that monitors things like heart rate and blood pressure from internally. It transmits that information as a signal which can be picked up on other devices. Pretty cool, huh?'

'It's fantastic, kiddo,' Snow said sarcastically, still rubbing his neck. 'What'll they invent next? An X-ray that works by kicking you in the nuts?'

'Don't be such a baby,' Hope rebutted. 'The point is, sex does things to a person. Heart rate elevates dramatically; neurons start firing like crazy. At least, so the medics tell me. Not really my field. But I'll hook these chips up to our communicators. Neither one of us will be able to have an orgasm without the other knowing.'

'I guess that's pretty clever,' Snow conceded. 'If anything, the thought that a machine is studying my every move from the inside will probably help me keep my hands to myself.' He paused for thought. 'Or off myself, I guess.'


	3. Chapter 3

'Snow?'

'Hmrmm.'

'Snow.'

'Mrrh.'

'Snow, wake up.'

Snow opened his eyes blearily. He felt warm. It was bright. The sun was shining in through their window stronger than it had done since autumn last year. Spring was here.

He clumsily rubbed his eyes with the base of his palm. Hope had been talking to him. 'Hmm?' he grunted in a way that he hoped sounded like a question.

'Sorry I woke you, but… you were tossing and turning, almost violently. Like you were kind of agitated.' His voice sounded soothing.

'I'm sorry,' Snow managed. He threw his arms behind his head and sighed deeply. He did actually feel like he was a little agitated. Like he had woken up from a frustrating dream, but he couldn't remember what it was.

'It's ok,' Hope reassured, and rested his head and one arm on Snow's chest. They lay there for several minutes, listening to the birdsong and the traffic outside. It was Sunday, and neither one of them had anywhere they needed to be. Finally Hope spoke up again.

'So… are you feeling horny?' he asked. He sounded playful.

'Nope,' Snow lied.

'I see.'

'Why d'you ask?'

'Well, it's just. I don't know. I was kind of getting a vibe that you were.'

'Based on what?'

'Based on… you're sporting some morning wood I'm pretty sure I could hoist a flag from,' Hope replied, and giggled.

Snow looked down, and then back at the ceiling. 'Nah. It's an illusion.'

'The nine inch tent pole propping the bedsheets up is an illusion?'

'Exactly.' Snow started grinning.

'I'm going to investigate,' Hope declared with a mock air of derring-do, and slowly pulled the duvet down past Snow's naval, past his pelvis, pulling his cock back with it until it finally sprung free, pointing towards the ceiling. 'What manner of beast is this?!' he cried with false alarm.

'Haha, alright,' Snow grinned. 'Maybe I'm a little horny. But I can manage without. And besides, I'm sure you've got some important work to – ahhh…'

Snow was cut off as Hope traced a finger over his balls, gently stroking and testing the weight of them, before moving up the shaft of his cock and finally grabbing it firmly with his whole hand. 'I have missed this,' he sighed thoughtfully. 'I'd love to play with it for you. Would you let me?' As he asked, he gently and ever so _slightly_ tugged up and down, pulling the foreskin over the head of his penis, and exposing it again.

'Uh, uhhuhhhh…' Snow groaned. 'You can have it if you want it.'

'I've actually been getting less academy work done since we started this than before,' Hope continued, still gently teasing his penis. 'I think about you all the time. About you holding me in your arms. Setting me down on the bed. Kissing at my neck. And I would wrap my legs around you…'

'Ok, ok, I've gotta go have a cold shower,' Snow protested, wriggling free of his boyfriend and darting for the bathroom.

Gods, that was close. He almost gave in.

 **xxxxx**

 **xxxxx**

'How long's it been?'

'Today's Sunday, so… that makes five days now.'

'Huh. I say you just give it to him,' Gadot said before thrusting another forkful of steak into his mouth.

'But then I'd be giving in,' Snow protested. He was acutely aware of how childish he sounded, though, and tried to mitigate his words. 'I mean, I was the one who came up with this stupid bet in the first place. I'd be losing a lot of pride if I went back on myself.'

Gadot toyed with the scrambled wyvern egg on his plate while he thought. He was on some kind of high-protein diet, apparently. Said it was the only way to keep his bulk up. 'Pride is important. But some things are more important, boss.'

Snow frowned. He wasn't getting the answers he had hoped for.

Yesterday had been almost hell: it being the weekend, neither of them had any work to be doing, which meant they were stuck with each other. They couldn't even go outside anywhere, since (as Hope pointed out) Snow didn't own any shorts or trousers baggy enough to hide spontaneous erections, and he just didn't trust himself out in public. So instead, he tried to occupy himself any other way he could – reading, watching TV… it didn't matter. Snow was never the kind of guy to want to sit still in the same place for too long anyway, and this new sexual frustration had left him so agitated he couldn't concentrate on any one activity. He tried meditating again, but it didn't work – he'd ended up playing with himself again, and after only a couple of minutes Hope came bursting through the door claiming that his communicator app was advising him that Snow's heart rate and blood pressure were elevating. That chip was too good, Snow had whined.

Today had been even worse. Following his shower and breakfast that morning, it became clear that staying in the apartment just wasn't going to work. For one thing, this unexpected hotter weather meant that Hope was wandering around the apartment naked. Making breakfast naked, making the bed naked, watering his window box plants naked. More than that, though… he kept _bending over_ things. On purpose, Snow was sure. It had been driving him mad. There was still nothing for him to do at the mayor's offices, so he desperately sent Gadot a message on his communicator asking if there were any more loads that needed moving that day. There weren't, so Snow offered they eat some lunch and hang out instead. He accepted, and Snow made his excuses to Hope and dashed away, the possibility that someone in public would clock one of his unpredictable boners being a chance he just had to take. He thought having another guy to discuss his problem with might help him resolve the situation, but he was beginning to worry that there was no way to win.

'Did you and Yuj ever have any problems like this?' Snow now asked, and immediately called bullshit on the surprised expression Gadot pulled. 'Oh come on, like I didn't know.'

'Well, Yuj and I have never really been a proper couple,' Gadot defended. 'Mostly just we're both good friends who both wanted sex and found each other very attractive. We only do the good stuff.' He smiled slyly to himself. 'So it wouldn't make much sense for us to agree to something stupid like, you know, _not_ having sex, now would it…'

'Yeah yeah,' Snow growled. 'But come on, you're both friends. And have been for ages. I'm guessing it's not just a case of you both show up, have sex and immediately leave without ever talkin' to each other.'

'Well…' Gadot started thoughtfully. 'Hmm. Lemme tell you something.'

'I'm waiting,' said Snow, and folded his arms. This should be good.

'Something I've learned from the boys I've been with. When boys start playing games with you – and I'm talking about boys like Yuj and Hope, not boys like you and me, you get me – you've gotta just let them win. It's easiest that way. They like a feeling of superiority, and I get along just fine by letting 'em have it.'

Snow pondered for a moment before making up his mind. 'No, I disagree. Sure, Hope likes to feel like he's in charge –'

'Is he in charge?'

'We kind of both are,' Snow growled. 'So, he likes to feel in charge, but… I really think I'm right here. If I just give in, _let_ him win, it'd be like not having any respect for him. Like treating him like a child.' He frowned again, and distractedly crumpled his napkin with the fist he was holding it with. 'He's not a child.'

'Well, I'm not challenging you there,' Gadot said, waving a hand to dismiss the idea. 'I've seen what the little guy can do. But let me ask you. Does he look like he's handling this little bet of yours well?'

Snow pondered again. 'This morning he said he's actually been getting less work done than before we started this thing. I guess cos he's so distracted. But I'm distracted too! I don't think he's got it any worse.'

'If you really thought that, you wouldn't have come up with this bet in the first place. Wasn't that the point?'

Snow had to admit, he had him there. 'Well, maybe.'

'How exactly were you expecting that this thing would go, anyway?' Gadot asked, and looked over his shoulder for a waiter to order another drink from.

'To be honest, I was kind of expecting that he would've caved by now,' Snow admitted. 'It was only supposed to be a little joke.'

'And the two of you are as stubborn as each other,' Gadot replied, still turning in his seat. 'I may not be clever but even I could've guessed how this would turn out. Gods, who do I have to fellate to get another orange juice?'

Snow raised his hand to signal to a waiter who immediately hurried to their table. After taking their request, Gadot grinned back at Snow. 'Haha, look at Mr Saviour-of-Cocoon, getting whatever he wants first time.'

'I guess I'm just the more dominant of the two of us,' Snow grinned.

'I could take you in any fight you know. With one hand tied behind my back.'

'Oh shut up,' Snow snickered, and Gadot laughed as well.

Maybe Gadot was right. Snow knew he could be stubborn, and he knew Hope could be stubborn too. Perhaps it was best if he back down; it was only causing frustration for the both of them. He'd just wanted Hope to admit that he had a _point_ , that was all… he didn't even have to be _right_. But this was a war for which victory probably wasn't worth the collateral damage.

He was distracted by a beeping noise coming from his pocket. Gadot seemed not to have noticed, so Snow slyly eased his communicator out of his pocket and read the screen under the table. It was the app for the chip inside of Hope. Scanning the figures, he saw that Hope's heart rate, wherever he was, had been flickering up as high as 95-100 bpm on and off for the hour or so – basically since Snow had left the house. His blood pressure was raised, and his body temperature was more than a degree higher than it should have been. He couldn't prove that that was because Hope was jerking himself off… but he couldn't shake the idea from his mind. No, Hope wasn't taking this too well. He was just good at hiding it when Snow wasn't in the apartment.

'I think I'm going to have to get going in a moment, friend. But I've made a decision,' Snow declared, swirling his water in one hand and listening to the gentle clinking of the ice cubes against the glass. 'I'm gonna be the bigger man and back down.'

'Haha, that's more like it,' Gadot laughed, and leaned across the table to clap him on the shoulder. 'Glad to see you're the same self-sacrificing pushover you were three years ago. And I do mean that as a compliment, boss.'

'Sure.'

'Oh come on, don't mope,' Gadot replied, who must've caught sight of a doleful look on his face. 'If you like, I can rephrase my advice in language I'm sure you'd appreciate.'

Snow looked up and raised an eyebrow, curious.

Gadot cleared his throat and grinned darkly. 'Hope _needs_ you. Needs you to be his _hero_. Go be his _hero_ , Snow.'

Snow laughed a little, self-aware. Nonetheless, he made a mental note to clout the idiot the next time he saw him and they weren't in such a public place.


	4. Chapter 4

'Hope!' Snow cried as soon as he'd flung the apartment door open. 'Hope! Where are you?'

He got no reply, and hung his coat hurriedly on the rack. He turned in the direction of the bedroom to start searching for his partner, but stopped when he saw his sexy figure ambling sleepily towards him, wearing only a pair of orange briefs. 'Are you okay?' Snow asked. 'You look kind of dazed.'

'I was just lying down and then… I think I fell asleep for a bit. It's so hot today…' Hope had the confusion of someone who had woken up from a nap that they couldn't even guess the length of. Snow approached him delicately and gave him a big, apologetic kiss, which Hope simply succumbed into.

'Come on,' said Snow. 'Let's get you a cold drink.'

After some lemonade with ice and a nice sit down on the couch, Hope seemed back to his normal self, more or less. He seemed unsure of himself; alternately touching Snow on the leg and then retreating, or leaning against his body and then thinking better of it. It looked like he was furiously fighting an internal battle.

'Hope, I wanted to talk to you. About this little bet of ours,' Snow started. Hope immediately sat up with a spark of excitement in his eyes.

'You're giving up?' he cried, clapping his hands together.

'Uhh…'

'I knew it!' Hope gleefully straddled Snow where he was sitting, which took him by surprise, and started raking his hands aggressively up Snow's shirt. 'I knew you couldn't handle it. I knew I was right. Shall we go to bed, then, lover?'

Snow should have said yes; he knew that very well. But the manic arrogance in Hope's demeanour was too hard to ignore. And although it made him feel like a stern parent, he realised that Hope hadn't quite learned his lesson yet.

So… even though the throbbing boner in his pants was going to forever hate him for saying this, he knew it had to be done.

'Actually, I wasn't going to say that. I was just asking you if _you_ were ok. Cos, you know. You kind of look like you're reaching the end of your rope…'

'…Oh.' Hope said, a little deflated. 'I, uh. No, I'm perfectly fine. Not horny at all.' He slowly slid sideways out of Snow's lap back to where he was sitting, and placed a cushion strategically in his own lap.

'Well that's fine then,' Snow acknowledged.

'Yep.'

'Mhmm.'

They continued to sit there in silence for a minute or so, Snow trying hard not to laugh. Ok, so he was horny. And maybe it was mean to punish Hope like this. But Hope did this kind of thing to him all the time! And the look on his face when he'd realised he wasn't getting any sex was actually pretty priceless.

'I'm going to get on with some academy work,' Hope finally said, but with a strange, slow tone to his voice, as though every individual word was being pronounced extremely carefully by someone who had never spoken them before.

Snow eyed him suspiciously as he rose from the couch and started gently padding across the room. After a few feet he paused and, being sure that Snow was watching him, gave an enormous yawn and a stretch, which climaxed with Hope sensually running his hands down his sides and over his rear. Following this, he turned his head to catch Snow watching him, and gave him a sensual wink.

So. The games were not over yet. So be it.

Snow still had some fight left in him. He had an idea.

After Hope had got himself settled down at the kitchen table with his processor and some notes, Snow also rose from the couch, but without announcing himself. He looked carefully at Hope, willing him to notice him leave the room, but Hope would not look up from his work. Well, never mind. He would catch his attention one way or another.

He walked down the hallway and into the second bedroom, which was currently (still) being used as a dumping ground for anything they hadn't found a proper place for yet. After a quick scan of the room, he quickly located the large box that he was looking for.

'Aha! Hey babies. Did you miss me?' Snow raised the box onto the bed and opened it, revealing his old set of weights, just as he'd left them. They'd been a present from Lebreau for his birthday last year, and he'd used them all the time – up until a few months ago, when he'd been working so frequently shifting heavy loads with Gadot that it seemed like overkill to be exercising at home as well, on top of his semi-weekly gym visits. But right now, they were just what he needed. He hoisted the box into his arms again and carried them back into the front room.

Hope loved it when Snow exercised. It turned him on, and Snow could tell. Lebreau could never have realised that when she gave him these as a gift, she was gifting him with the ultimate weapon. Not that he had really ever used them that way… he'd normally never think of it. If it ever happened that he was exercising with them and Hope would stop being moody for whatever reason it was and want to have sex instead, that was just a serendipitous bonus. Today, though… today he knew exactly what he was doing.

He set the box down on the floor and carefully positioned himself on a part of the couch to make sure he was within Hope's line of sight. He took the 10lb dumbbell out of the box with his right arm, and started lifting.

He studied Hope carefully in his peripheral vision. One, two, three, four. He was sure this wouldn't take long. Seven, eight, nine. Any minute now. Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Sure enough, Hope eventually started stealing glances in his direction. Perfect. He changed to the other arm. One, two, three.

After a while, he switched to a heavier weight. As he did so, he glanced challengingly in Hope's direction, and caught his eye exactly the same way Hope had caught his earlier – Hope furtively averted his eyes and seemed to pretend to be studying his notes further.

Snow continued with his weights, confident he was winning, until he noticed Hope get up to do something else – he walked to the kitchen, opened the freezer, bent over (Snow tried to ignore this part), retrieved something and sat back down where he was. It was only then that he revealed the ice lolly he had fetched, which he began tonguing and sucking suggestively.

Snow could feel a bulge growing in his pants again. This was getting to be too much. He was dazed, mesmerised, and acutely aware of how stupid he must have looked, gawking open-mouthed at his boyfriend. But there was nothing to be done; he was completely under his spell. All he could do was stare at Hope licking and sucking in that hungry, gentle, sexy way that only he seemed capable of. It couldn't end this way, could it? He was going to all this effort to prove to Hope that he needed sex the most… but was that not even true?

'It's so hot today,' Hope moaned in his direction, tracing a finger of one hand up and down his torso and leaning back in his chair.

Snap out of it, Snow! Fight back!

'Uh, yeah, it is,' Snow mumbled, shaking himself out of his reverie. 'Yeeaah,' he managed with more conviction, ' _gods_ it is hot today. I'm starting to work up a sweat.' He complemented his statement by using both arms to hoist his vest up and over his head, exposing his bare, glistening chest.

He got back to lifting the dumbell with one hand, and now started using the other to rub over his pecs and abs. He felt weird doing that, but he knew it would be driving Hope nuts.

A quick glance in his direction confirmed it. Hope was staring at his chest as though in a trance, and his now neglected ice lolly was dripping onto the floor, unnoticed.

'Stop.' Hope said it.

Snow stopped. Maintaining eye contact with his boyfriend, he slowly stood up and approached him where he was sitting. Hope was face-to-face with Snow's abs, and had to look directly up to see his face. 'Something on your mind, Hope?'

Hope stood up as well. The two of them stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, the levels of heated, frustrated lust between them probably enough to power an airship if it could somehow have been harnessed.

'I need to be fucked,' Hope admitted.

'I need to fuck you,' Snow admitted.

'Let's forget about this bet,' Hope suggested.

'Yes. Let's,' Snow agreed.

And then they tore into each other.

 **xxxxx**

 **xxxxx**

Snow pulled off his lover's underwear, his only remaining garment, before lifting him clean off his feet and into his arms, where Hope instinctively wrapped his legs around his waist. Snow supported him with one arm and used the other to play with his hair. Hope was playing with his hair too; tugging at it roughly. So Snow tugged back, harder. So Hope dug his nails into his back. So Snow spanked him. And all the while the two of them were kissing passionately, violently; each one of them seemingly unable to break contact for so much as a second.

Snow carried them both into the bedroom and threw Hope down aggressively onto it. He grabbed his lover's slim, gorgeous legs and hoisted them into the air, up, up, so that Hope was now upside down and his ass was pointing to the ceiling. He ignored Hope's initial gasp of surprise and, holding him in position, started eating his ass with a fervour and ferocity he knew he could barely control. Hope's moans now were of passion, not protest, and Snow felt his hand once again running through his hair, pulling him in in encouragement.

Snow's dick felt so uncomfortable in his pants. Manoeuvring Hope's legs so that he could hold them both up with one hand, he used the other to blindly release it. It felt so heavy in his hand, easily as heavy as he'd ever felt it. He stroked it unconsciously and rhythmically.

He felt an animalistic urge to show it off, thrust it in his boyfriend's face, prove to him how aroused he was. So he stood up on the bed, keeping Hope suspended where he was, and without warning, let his dick fall onto Hope's exposed ass with a hard, wet slap.

'Fuck!' Hope cried, and wriggled free. He knelt up so that he was facing Snow's dick directly, and appeared to be admiring its size as if for the first time. This turned Snow on even more.

'Do you want it?' Snow asked him, in a low growl. Hope lifted his head to look him in the eye, his face wearing an expression that could only read ' _of course I do'._ His eyes were longing, and his mouth was parted, his tongue running itself over his lower lip seductively. Snow touched the side of his face with one hand, brushing his thumb over his lips and into his mouth slightly, which Hope licked and tongued gratefully. He looked like a puppy who was obediently waiting for a promised treat.

Snow grabbed his dick again and started rubbing it against the side of Hope's face. Hope closed his eyes, apparently to better enjoy the sensation, and turned his head slightly to kiss and lick at the shaft. The feeling of dominance Snow was deriving from the act was unmistakable, and though it might have made him feel guilty doing this years ago, doing this with anyone else, he was utterly certain that Hope loved it just as much as he did. He gently slapped his dick against Hope's face, who cooed in response. _All things are about sex except sex_ , Snow had once heard someone say. _Sex is about power._

After another few moments of teasing, Snow gently guided the head of his cock into Hope's eagerly parted mouth. It felt incredible; a sensation that he enjoyed all the more for having been starved of it for a while. Hope wasted no time in taking control of the situation, grabbing the rest of his cock with his hands and sliding the remaining third in and out of his mouth in a purposive sort of way. Snow grunted and groaned, completely unable to silence himself if he'd wanted to. It felt so _intense_ ; Hope was using his tongue dexterously to stimulate parts of him that felt like they'd never been stimulated before. And what with not having been able to have an orgasm in five days, and suffering constantly under Hope's teasing torment for that time, well… after little more than a minute, it was already too much.

'Fuck, Hope, I'm… I'm kinda close…' Snow growled, expecting his boyfriend to ease off, but he only increased his speed and sucked Snow all the way to orgasm – which he happily consumed without hesitation. Not a small feat either, since it felt like it was probably a particularly voluminous load.

It was all he could do to stand there on the bed, feeling wonderful, with Hope still licking at and cleaning off his dick. So much tension felt like it had been so cathartically lifted all at once, he was completely at a loss for words.

'You enjoy that, big boy?' Hope teased, evidently clocking the goofy look that must have been on his face. Snow looked down at him, grinning, to see Hope kneeling there – his own dick looked almost painfully stiff, but had gone without any attention. Well, it was time to change that.

Snow kneeled down on the bed in front of Hope and kissed him generously. It tasted a little salty, but he didn't mind. With one hand, he slowly reached down and grabbed a hold of Hope. He made a helpless sort of whimpering noise, which Snow found amusing. Snow started tugging gently, and Hope collapsed onto him for support. The kid was horny alright.

'Snow…' Hope pleaded into his chest. 'Snow… finger me…'

Snow growled obligingly. He gently lowered Hope onto the bed and reached over for the lube on the bedside table, and started applying some between his lover's parted legs. He was having as much fun seeing to Hope as Hope obviously had done seeing to him moments earlier. He was still fully hard, in fact. It was tempting to see if he could jerk himself off again, straight away.

Once Hope was sufficiently lubricated, he slid a finger inside him (with almost no resistance), making him buck his hips and moan with delight. 'More…' he begged almost immediately, and Snow raised an eyebrow, impressed. The second finger also slid in with almost no resistance – Hope was definitely ready for this. Hope raised his ass up and lowered it down again, fucking himself on Snow's fingers, allowing himself to be penetrated from exactly the angle he wanted. With one had he was also jerking himself off frenziedly, his moans getting louder and louder. If Snow needed any proof that Hope was just as pent up as he himself had been, his swift arrival at climax which splattered the bedsheets and both of their bodies was definitely sufficient.

Hope lay there, panting, for some time. Snow didn't remove his fingers, knowing that Hope still enjoyed the sensation immediately after orgasm. Eventually they found the energy to be human again – cleaned themselves up, and had a shower together. Snow found he couldn't keep himself off of Hope though, and it seemed Hope couldn't keep off of him either. They washed each other's bodies, held each other, and kissed passionately and apologetically, as though in silent consensus that they should never attempt something so silly as this again.

'I feel so much better already,' Hope later said as they lay naked on the bed, staring out of the window at the late afternoon sun.

'Me too,' Snow agreed. 'I'm glad we decided to cancel the whole bet thing.' Maybe it was true that Hope was the hornier of the two of them. And maybe it wasn't. Maybe they were just as bad as each other. But it wasn't worth going to such lengths to find out either way.

'Actually, about that…' Hope had a curious tone in his voice which invited Snow to tilt his head and look at him directly.

'Yeah?'

'The agreement was to see who could go the longest without having an orgasm, right?' Hope was twiddling his thumbs over his chest and pondering the ceiling curiously.

'It originally was, yeah…'

'Well, if I remember rightly… you were the one who climaxed first. Making me the winner. Of the bet. Technically.' He spoke shortly, and when he finally made eye contact, formed a wry, playful smile.

'Well, no, but… you… we agreed beforehand to forget the whole bet thing. I definitely remember!' Snow complained. 'In fact, _you_ were the one who suggested we drop it first! Meaning you were the one who lost, _technically_.'

'Nope,' Hope countered. 'By the terms of the agreement, it doesn't matter what I _say_ , only what I _do_. And you definitely came first.' He looked extremely self-satisfied.

Snow whimpered, feeling tapped out and helpless. What was the use? Was he beaten again?

No, of course not. Even when all else seemed lost, he always had his secret weapon. And if there was anything these last few days had taught him, it was that Hope couldn't resist his secret weapon any more than he could resist Hope's.

'Oh, well that's a shame then…' Snow started, feigning resignation and climbing to his knees. 'I guess I'd better get on with, you know. Cleaning up the apartment and stuff. I'll be so busy with that, there'll be no time for fun…'

Without giving him any warning, Snow straddled Hope where he was lying, lining his knees up with Hope's shoulders, so that his semi-erect dick was dangling just an inch or two above Hope's face. Hope stared at it, swinging ever-so-slightly like a hypnotist's pendulum. Snow continued: 'It's been so many days without sex, I still have a fair bit left in the tank, you see… I was hoping we could go again. But if you want me to get busy with doing all the cleaning for the next month, I guess I wouldn't be able to… maybe not tomorrow either, or the day after, or…'

'Shut up,' Hope snapped. 'Get the lube.'

Snow grinned. You win some, you lose some, he supposed. But what is a relationship without a bit of healthy competition every now and again?

 **xxxxx**

 **THE END**

 **xxxxx**

 _ **Well, there we are! This took ages to polish, but it was worth it. Don't hesitate to fave / review if that's your thing - I'm keen to hear what you thought! And rest assured, this won't be the last in the series, either. I've still got a good few ideas up my sleeve to do with these characters... So, until next time!**_


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